OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 10.00PM.
STRIKING chemical workers may be back at work later this week, following agreements in principle between unions and employers in most of the industry’s seven sectors.
According to Commission for Conciliaton, Arbitration and Mediation senior commissioner Kaizer Thibedi, settlement is near, but representatives must now get final approval from their constituencies.
Only the petroleum, glass and pharmaceutical sectors remain at loggerheads, but Thibedi hoped for agreement from them late on Tuesday night.
Settlement will see the end of a two-week strike by 47000 Chemical Workers’ Industrial Union members.
National Petroleum Employers’ Association spokesman Lutz Krantz said employers and the CWIU are closer to agreement, saying he also expects resolution by late Tuesday night.
Some 30 striking workers on Tuesday damaged the Caltex head office on Cape Town’s foreshore, cracking windows and a glass door, and some equipment.